Stevens: Talk about coaches leaving is tiresome

The timing and discussion about coaches possibly jumping ship is out of hand, and totally unfair to Donovan's current employer, the University of Florida, and his basketball team.

We saw the same thing happen in college football, with Brian Kelly at Central Michigan University, and in the NFL, with Nick Saban, who bolted from the Miami Dolphins to the University of Alabama.

Kelly was a spin doctor the last few weeks with CMU, avoiding questions about his status at Central, giving vague and misleading responses, and leaving fans wondering, "What gives?"

Here's what gave - Kelly left Central at the end of the regular season for a higher-paying coaching job with Cincinnati. It caught his athletics director at Central, Dave Heeke, totally off guard, not to mention thousands of Chippewa fans.

Now there's Donovan at Florida.

He's rumored to be going to the University of Kentucky to replace Tubby Smith, but Donovan is saying all of the right things and he's actually handling this very well - he won't talk about Kentucky and he's focused on Florida. That's the right thing to say. And, honestly, it's the only thing he can say, unless he wants to pull a Bill Frieder and admit he's taken another job like Frieder did back in 1989 before Michigan's NCAA title run, and Frieder ended up losing his job to Steve Fisher.

Donovan would make a boatload of money - about $3 million a year - at Kentucky and probably be given ownership of the governor's mansion if he asked for it.

The timing of this discussion is awful because Donovan can't freely talk about it. It's right during the middle of the Gators' NCAA tournament run, and it poses a great distraction to the Gators.

But with the intensity of the media coverage on talk radio, television, on the Internet and in print, the Donovan issue is constantly before us, just like a bad headache.

And it gets very old.

* Kobe Bryant.

In terms of likeability, Bryant is not one of my favorites. I don't click with the personality and/or carefully crafted image.

But in terms of playing ability, I think he's right there with Michael Jordan in his prime.

* Tiger Woods.

In a recent Sports Illustrated article, Woods commented that he's involved in a number of off-the-course business ventures because, in part, he wants to be able to financially take care of his family.

I just about gagged.

If that quote is accurate, it ranks right up there with Latrell Sprewell's remark about negotiating for a multimillion-dollar NBA contract. "I want to be able to feed my wife and kids."

Woods made about $80 million last year between his golf winnings and endorsements. He bought a yacht for $20 million. He's on pace to be sport's first billionaire. I doubt that he spends his weekends clipping coupons.

* Kenny Rogers.

Bummer.

Man, this guy was riding a confidence wave that I haven't seen in years. He was lights-out on the mound for the Detroit Tigers.

And, in his early 40s, he seemed to be getting better.

But now he's out of commission until later this summer after having a blood clot removed from his shoulder. What a bad break.

The Tigers will miss his pitching and leadership.

* The Detroit Lions.

The Lions need to build a winning franchise piece by piece and not look for lightning in bottle. That's why I hope they make a smart move and draft offensive lineman Joe Thomas of Wisconsin with their top selection.

Thomas could be a stabilizing force on the O-line for years to come.

And this may shock you, but if the Lions don't draft Thomas, I think they should nab Calvin Johnson from Georgia Tech. He'll be gone within the first five picks, and the Lions pick second.

By all of the NFL experts that I've been following, Johnson is a can't-miss wide receiver. It would take plenty of guts to draft another wideout, especially after the Charles Rogers and Mike Williams flops in recent years.

Do you have a sick feeling in your stomach that the Lions will somehow botch this up?